Long jumper Ancy Sojan created history and etched her name in record books as she broke Anju Bobby George’s 22-year-old record. She recorded the best jump of 6.88m, breaking Anju’s record of 6.83m. She achieved a milestone during the National Inter-State Athletics Championships in Bhubaneshwar on Saturday (June 27).
Following Sojan’s history-making jump, Anju has said that she expected her or Shaili Singh to break her record at the Commonwealth Games or the Asian Games. The Indian legend held the record for more than two decades.
“I was expecting that Shaili or Ancy would break my record because in the Asian Games or Commonwealth Games this year, where athletes always perform their best. But since 2021, when Shaili started performing in the international level, I was expecting a good jump from her. At last Ancy could do this. Records are meant to be broken. I guess Shaili will soon come close too or she will break that,” Anju told PTI.
“But yes, 22 years, it’s a long time. Someone should come and break because once I moved out of competition, it’s public, anyone can come and break it. I enjoy the competition between the two. I’ve known her (Ancy) since she was very young. She’s again from Kerala. So you know, jumpers mostly come from Kerala,” she added.
Anju Bobby George record the jump at Olympics
Anju Bobby George registered her best jump of 6.83m in the final of the long jump event at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. She three more jumps of 6.75m, 6.68m and 6.61m. Her best jump wasn’t enough for a medal but Anju created history with her effort.
Russia’s Tatyana Lebedeva, Irina Simagina and Tatyana Kotova won the gold, silver and bronze medals with best jumps of 7.07m, 7.05m and 7.05m, respectively.
Anju won gold medals in 2002 Asian Games, 2005 Asian Championships, 2005 World Athletics Final and 2006 South Asian Games. She won a bronze medal in the 2002 Commonwealth Games.